It was summer in early August, in the Pacific coast of Monterey Bay, California. And about 3 miles off shore, the Wild Kratts Tortuga is resting on the water surface in Sea Turtle Mode. And everyone was doing their own thing, Jimmy playing a video game, Koki checking on the status and making sure that the villains are not doing any trouble. And Aviva working on the Time Trampoline trying to get it repaired after that incident with Zach.
Meanwhile, outside Chris and Martin lying on the water on their water loungers.
"Ah, nothing like a nice day to relax of the Pacific coast." Chris said.
"You say it, it's nice to have a break now then." Martin agreeing.
"Hmm, I wonder what animals we should check out today?" Chris thought.
"How bout whales, there's 80 species of them worldwide." Martin said.
"Hey, now that you mention it. We've only checked out 4 of them." Chris then brought his Creaturepod out. "The Sperm Whale is the largest we've checked out so far. And the there's the Bottlenose Dolphin."
"That was a chattered adventure." Martin said.
"And there's the Narwhal." Chris added. "And lastly there's the Orca or Killer Whale."
"There's only we've dealt with. But haven't had an adventure yet."
"Yeah, that would be the Bowhead Whale of the arctic. Those guys are the only large whales that stay in the arctic, all year round through out their entire lives."
"Yeah." Martin thought of something. "Those last 4 adventures were on Toothed Whales. We haven't done one with a Baleen Whale."
Now that you mention it, you're right." Chris thought. "The Bowhead is the only Baleen Whale we've seen.
"Well, besides those Gray Whales that we've tracked and followed up the coast earlier this year." Martin added. "At this point, they're feeding up for the during in October."
"Yeah, whales actually do hang around here at this time of year."
Meanwhile, below them a large object was swimming up to the surface. It looked bigger than even the Tortuga itself, and as it got closer to the surface it created a sky blue glow through the water. And it was behind the brothers swimming towards them.
Meanwhile, in the Tortuga Koki was looking at the screen checking on the brothers and saw the glowing object behind them.
"Hmm, that's odd." She said.
"What is it?" Aviva went over to her.
"There's a large glowing object behind Chris and Martin." Said Koki. "But, I can't make it out of what it is."
"A shoal of fish maybe?"
"I can't tell, and it's heading towards the brothers."
"Sea monster?" Jimmy fearfully thought.
"No, that's crazy." Koki said.
"maybe we should call the bros to get over here." Aviva. "Just to be safe."
Meanwhile, the brothers were working out what whales hang around the area.
"Okay, let's see." Chris checking his Creaturepod.
Then a screen showed Aviva.
"Bros, I think you get back to the Tortuga." She said.
"What, why?" Chris asked.
"There's something big coming behi-"
Then suddenly, a large object rose from the water like a large submarine. Martin got on top of it, and Chris was washed away from the waves. As the object then spouts a large jet of steam through it's blowhole over 20 feet in the air.
Then Martin slid off the object from it's slippery skin. And the 2 brothers were underwater as they saw the creature. On the Tortuga, Aviva, Koki and Jimmy went outside and saw the animal. And it was bigger than the Tortuga.
"It's-It's-It's a-It's a..." Aviva stuttered amaze.
"A BLUE WHALE!" The brothers said.
The Blue Whale rests on the surface, and she was right next to the Tortuga. And she completely dwarfs it by another 30 feet and the ship doesn't seem to bother her.
'This is amazing, my favorite whale!" Martin said. "Decided to show up!"
The 2 brothers then swam to the Tortuga, and joined the others.
"She's beautiful." Aviva said.
"I can't believe how big she is." Koki in awe.
"That's the biggest animal on the planet, right there." Said Chris.
"Really?" Jimmy asked.
"Really, the Blue Whale is the biggest animal that exists." Martin said. "Or has ever existed on the planet."
"What?" Aviva stunned.
"Get outta here." Koki scoffed.
"It's true, come on." Said Chris.
Then they all went in the Tortuga.
And the they got to the big screen. And then Chris pulls up a Blue Whale.
"The Blue Whale is so big, that 90 of us each can fit on it's tail alone." Said Chris. And the screen showed a close up on the fluke.
"That fluke alone, is the width of our Falcon gliders." Martin added. "17 to 20 feet across."
Then the screen showed a Blue Whale on a weighing scale.
"The Blue Whale weighs 200 tons, that's 30 times the weight of an African Elephant."
"In fact, the Blue Whale is twice the weight, of the biggest known dinosaur, Argentinosaurus." Martin added.
Then the screen of the weighing scale balance with a Blue Whale and 2 Argentinosaurus on it.
"Whoa." Aviva in awe.
"Cool." Jimmy amazed.
"And look it this." Chris said as the screen showed the inside anatomy of the whale's head. "It actually has a tongue as big as an elephant. Making it the biggest tongue on Earth."
Then the screen moves over to the whale's ribcage. And then it shows the heart.
"It's heart is as a big a Mini Cooper car." Martin said. "It may only beat 5 of 6 times a minutes, but it drives 10 tons of blood." And then the screen showed the blood vessel track of the whale. "And it flows through a million miles of blood vessels."
"Get outta here!" Koki said. "That's like traveling to the moon and back, twice."
"Exactly." Chris said. "The Blue Whale needs to big heart to power it's entire body."
"Hey, we better get back to Colossal Blue." Martin said. "Who's knows how long she'll hang here."
"Colossal Blue?" Jimmy questioned.
"Her name."
They soon got back outside, and Colossal Blue is still resting at the same spot.
Chris and Martin now in their wetsuits got into the water and slowly swam up to her.
Then Aviva appeared in her wetsuit. "No way I'm missing this." She then got in the water.
Soon the 3 swam next to the giant, to her they were the size of mice to her. And her 12 foot flippers alone were twice as long as they are tall.
"She is really big, even close up." Aviva said.
"Come on, let's get a measurement." Said Chris.
Chris swam up to the tip of the whale's lower, and brought his Creaturepod's tape measure. And then martin grabs it, and swam all the way down to the tip of her fluke.
"Whoa! She's exactly 100 feet long." Chris said. "She's as big as a Boeing 737."
"But how did something like her, get so big?" Aviva asked.
The brothers soon joined her. And Chris's Creaturepod brought a timeline screen.
"To answer that." Said Chris. "You'll have to look at the journey of the Whale's history began. It all started 15 million years after the Extinction of the Dinosaurs, at 50 million B.C. with a wolf like creature called Pakicetus." And the screen showed a Pakicetus.
"That looks more of a dog." Said Aviva.
"That's because, Pakicetus was a land animal." Martin said.
"But then, Pakicetus was suffering climate change and then took to the water." Chris said and the screen showed a Pakicetus entering the water." And that's where that fateful moment began." And then the screen moves forward a million years. "A million years after Pakicetus' extintion, it evolved into a news species. Ambulocetus, meaning Walking Whale." The screen showed an Ambulocetus from Walking with Beasts.
"Now, it's looks more of a Crocodile." Said Aviva.
"That's because Ambulocetus was more adapted to water living." Martin said, and then the screen showed it swimming. "And look how it swims, it's using it's backbone to move up and down."
"Just like a whale and dolphin swim." Said Aviva.
"Yeah, but Ambulocetus was more of a freshwater swimmer." Chris said.
Then the screen moves forward 15 million years into the Late Eocene.
"Then about 9 million years after Ambulocetus, and just 4 million after Rodhocetus." Said Chris. "Whales have begun to become the true masters of the oceans. Here we have Basilosaurus, and Dorudon." The screen then showed a Basilosaurus and Dorudon."
The Basilosaurus looks almost serpent like." Aviva said.
"Yeah, that's because when their fossils were first found. "Chris said. "People thought they were reptiles, and the name Basilosaurus means King Lizard. It was a 60 foot long, 60 ton predatory whale that hunted sharks and smaller whales like Dorudon."
"What are those little nubs on the tail?" Aviva gestured to the screen.
"Those are actually the hind legs leftover from their terrestrial past." Martin said. "Scientist though at that point thought they were unless."
"But they also thought with Basilosaurus, with their narrow bodies." Chris said. "Were to help when mating."
"But which one of them to the whales today?" Aviva asked.
"It was Dorudon." Chris said. "Basilosaurus for it's size was actually built for life in the shallows surprisingly. Dorudon was the one that lead to the whales we see today." And then the screen with the Dorudon changes. "And then as time went on, the nostrils shifted to the top of their heads. And the hind legs disappeared completely. And then divided into the Toothed and Baleen Whales, and then whales became free from gravity and got bigger. But with the Blue Whale, became the biggest of them all."
"Wow!"
Then Colossal Blue begins to swim away.
"Hey, Colossal Blue's on the move." Chris said. "Let's follow her."
They begin to follow her, they were lucky she was swimming at pace they can keep up. And she was moving through the water like a giant ocean glider.
"I can't believe how easily she moves through the water." Said Aviva.
"That's because the Blue Whale is really streamlined." Martin said. "They easily cruise 20 miles an hour, some of the fastest animals in the sea."
Then a shape was seen in the gloom.
"Hey, what is that?" Chris pointed to it.
"I don't know." Martin said. " A shark or something."
"What, I thought Blue Whales were too big for them." Said Aviva.
"Blue Whales are big, but they're not truly invincible." Chris said. "Just last year there was a drone footage of 2 Orcas charging a Blue Whale. But it was only practice hunt of teaching calves how to hunt."
Then the shape reveals itself as a Blue Whale calf.
"A Blue Whale calf?!" The brothers said.
Then the calf approaches them curiously.
"Aw, hey little... big fella." Aviva petting it.
Then the calf playfully nudges her, and then swam up to Martin.
"I can't believe how big she is." Aviva said.
"Yep, Blue Whales even start big." Said Chris. "When born, this calf is 23 feet long, and weigh 3 tons."
"How bout I call you... Blue Jr." Martin naming her.
Blue Jr then nudges Martin, and splashes the water with her tail. And then the little calf swam up her mother near her tail and begins to nurse.
"Aw! She actually nursing her mom's milk." Aviva adored by it.
"Yep, a Blue calf will drink 50 gallons of milks a day." Chris said. "The Blue Jr gains weight each day."
"I say Blue Jr is 3 weeks old." Martin said.
And then the 2 whales begin to swim off.
After following them for a while, they came across a large shoal of Krill.
"Looks like we got Krill." Martin said.
"I say, they got lunch." Chris gestures to Colossal Blue.
Then Colossal Blue lunges at the shoal opening her mouth 90 degrees taking in gallons of water and Krill as the skin of her lower jaws swells like a water balloon.
"Whoa, that was a big mouthful." Aviva said.
"Yeah, a Blue Whale feeding can take 220 tons of water in its mouth." Martin said. "She actually over double her body weight in each mouthful."
Chris then scans the whale as water expels through her mouth. "Wow, her tongue is actually stretchy, and use it to ram the water through the baleen like a piston. And then the tongue wipes the Krill off and swallows them."
"Wow. That is amazing." Said Aviva. "But does it eat anything else?"
"Actually the throat of a Blue Whale is too small for swallowing bigger things than Krill." Martin said. "In fact, it would choke on a loaf of bread."
"Blue Whales have even been know to do acrobatic moves when feeding in deeper water." Chris said. "Making them the biggest acrobats in the world."
"And the energy it spends, is colossal." Martin said. "Each day, Blue Whales burn 3 million calories each day. That's the same as 10,000 hamburgers."
"Whoa, that's a lot of exercise." Aviva said.
Soon, the Krill shoal was soon scatter in a few tiny groups. And then Colossal Blue and her daughter begin to swim away.
"Well, I guess this adventure is now at a close." Martin said.
"We better get back to the Tortuga." Said Aviva.
Just then the Tortuga appeared. And they climbed out of the water.
Later, they were telling Koki and Jimmy about what they saw.
"Man, that would cool to see." Koki said.
"Yeah, Blue Jr is very playful." Martin said.
"And she's very important, to the population worldwide." Chris said. "Decades ago, before the Whaling Era 300,000 of these giant once swam the ocean. But now, there's over 10,000."
"Yeah, the Blue Whale is making a slow but steady come back."
"But who knows if there number will recover."
"Hey, I got tracking tags that we can put on them." Aviva said.
Soon, the Tortuga is flying in the air above the 2 Blue Whales.
And soon, a Flycam flew out and attached a tracking tag on Colossal Blue. And soon place one on Blue Jr.
"And both tags are on them." Jimmy said.
"Hopefully it will help them." Koki said.
Blue Jr really is precious to the population number of her kind. A Blue Whale can live for 80 to over 100 years even. And if she lives long enough.
She'll grow up to become...
The Biggest Mammal of All Time.